One of my favourite historians, Richard Vinen, in UnHerd today reminds us that the British two party system is not inevitable

'There is one politician who has, effectively, been operating in a European political system for many years: Farage. His only real experience of elected office was gained in the European parliament. He has long understood that having a majority in parliament may not be the key to getting what you want — he has, after all, placed himself at the centre of the political system when he still has only half a dozen MPs in parliament. 

'....His political style would be familiar to, say, a Radical in the French Third Republic or an Italian Christian Democrat in the Seventies.

'....as for the objection that multi-party systems produce weak governments, has Britain ever had a weaker government than it has now at a time when the ruling party has a huge majority?'